Preventative Medicine (TV series episode)
'Preventative Medicine' was the 23rd episode of Season 7 of the ''M*A*S*H TV series, also the 170th overall series episode. The episode was written by Tom Reeder, and directed by Tony Mordente. The episode originally aired on CBS-TV on February 19, 1979. Synopsis Colonel Lacy is reckless and his men keep getting wounded and ending up at the 4077th. Hawkeye is determined to stop him even if it means doing something unethical. Meanwhile, Klinger plays the part of a voodoo practitioner to try and get out of the army. Detailed episode summary During OR, the doctors notice that all the wounded have multiple shrapnel wounds, from all directions. Col. Potter explains these soldiers are part of Col. Lacy's unit, the 603rd Battalion, which sustains more casualties than any other in Korea. Later, Col. Lacy (James Wainwright) himself arrives, and seems to be quite the charmer. He's complimentary to Radar, to Col. Potter, and to Margaret. Hawkeye and B.J. are indifferent to Lacy's kind words, and his troops are downright hostile to him. Lacy makes a speech about how the bravery of his men have given him the initiative to put in a plan to I-Corps to take on Hill 403, a dangerous mission. Hawkeye and B.J. are disgusted, and in private Col. Potter tries to talk Lacy out of it, to no effect. The next morning, Lacy sits down to breakfast with Margaret in the Mess Tent, and she's up front about how much she likes him. Lacy tells her about the mission to claim Hill 403, and when he casually admits that he expects "around 20%" in casualties 100 men, Margaret is horrified. She asks what makes the hill so important, worth all that, and he responds, as if it's a strange question, "Well, getting it." Disgusted, Margaret walks off, leaving Lacy alone. He then tries to talk to Hawkeye and B.J., and Hawkeye lets him know how revolting he finds Lacy to be. Lacy is condescending and smug, still not caring a bit about all the casualties he's created and will create. He returns to Post Op to give out Purple Hearts, but none of the wounded want them. One of them goes into cardiac arrest, while Lacy receives a phone call from a general, who tells him that Lacy's offensive on Hill 403 has been denied, on the grounds of it being too risky. Hawkeye and B.J. overhear this and gloat, but Lacy won't take no for an answer. He says that he plans to send out reconnaissance, and that usually draws fire. And once the shooting starts, who's to say who started it? B.J. is horrified, but Hawkeye seems to have changed his mind - he compliments Lacy, inviting him to the Swamp for some drinks. B.J. at first is shocked, but Hawkeye lets him know the plan is to slip Lacy a mickey, pulling him off the line. They go ahead with the plan, and when Lacy doubles over in pain, B.J. immediately diagnoses it as gastritis, but Hawkeye says it's appendicitis, requiring surgery. When Lacy hears that, he protests, saying he'll lose his command if he's off the line that long, which only reaffirms Hawkeye's plan. In the scrub room, Hawkeye and B.J. have it out - B.J. says cutting a healthy body open is "mutilation - why don't you just stab him?" Hawkeye argues that it's worth that to save the lives of all the young men who won't have to climb Hill 403, and goes ahead with the operation. B.J. walks out, refusing to participate. Later, Hawkeye comes back to the Swamp. He wearily admits to B.J. that Lacy's appendix was "pink and perfect, and I tossed it in the scrap bucket." B.J. says there's wounded coming, just a few seconds before the P.A. announces it. B.J. adds: "You treated a symptom - the disease goes merrily on." He puts his hand on Hawkeye's shoulder, helping him up, and together they leave the Swamp. On a more humorous note, the episode's sub-plot deals with Klinger's latest attempt to get discharged. He confronts Colonel Potter by spraying powder in the air and muttering in a strange language (as well as brandishing a dead chicken). Claiming to have taken up voodoo and now unafraid to be the bad guy, Klinger threatens to stab a voodoo doll of Colonel Potter if his demand is not met. Potter naturally doesn't budge despite several attempts over the course of the episode, causing Klinger to stab the voodoo doll with a pin, just as Hawkeye and Hunnicutt drag Lacy to O.R for his appendicitis, or gastritis (as the two argue). Fearing his "magic" has targeted the wrong man (as he simply addressed the doll as colonel, both Lacy and Potter's rank) Klinger guiltily hands over his voodoo materials to Father Mulcahy as an act of penance. Mulcahy insists that it was a mere coincidence, but agrees to take the items to set Klinger at ease. Naturally, he does not take the chicken. Research notes/Fun facts *In a call sheet for 10/26/78, Jo Ann Thompson is listed as Nurse Able, separate from the other enlisted men and nurse extras who are not named. However, she does not get a credit in the episode. *The original script had Hawkeye and B.J. simply removing Lacy's appendix, as he and Trapper had done in a previous episode (White Gold) without incident. However, Mike Farrell strongly objected and felt that B.J. would not knowingly cut open a healthy patient, no matter the reason. His and Alan Alda's argument was written into the episode. *The parts where HAwkeye saves a patient and Klinger stabs a voodo doll is not in syndication but are seen in the remastered version; this is a remake of an earlier episode The Ringbanger (TV series episode) where a high casualty colonel is taken out of action by Hawkeye and Trapper John. This theme would later be used again in Ping Pong (TV series episode) and Friends and Enemies (TV series episode) *For the record there was never a 603rd Infantry Battalion Army Lineage Book Vol II Infantry 1953 Guest stars/Recurring cast *Jeff Maxwell as Igor Straminsky *James Wainwright as Colonel Bingham Lacy *Larry "Flash" Jenkins as Private North *Uncredited appearances: **Jo Ann Thompson (post op) **Kellye Nakahara (post-op) **Jennifer Davis (mess tent) External links *[http://www.tv.com/shows/mash/c*a*v*e-43369/ M*A*S*H episode Preventative Medicine at TV.com] *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0638389/ M*A*S*H episode Preventative Medicine at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)] Category:Season 7 episodes